Former The Bachelorette Australia star Jarrod Woodgate has one big passion in life: charity work. And when he discovered his new girlfriend Sam Royce — a federal agent with the Australian Federal Police — shares the same desire to do good, he knew she was a keeper.

Woodgate, who was runner-up on Sophie Monk's The Bachelorette season in 2017, is already an ambassador of cancer charity Camp Quality and spends weekends volunteering with the RSPCA. But when the pair met last year, Royce brought his attention to a little-known issue happening right here in Australia: human trafficking and modern slavery.

"It's just an eye-opener because before I met Sam I was in this little bubble with an understanding of a life I was meant to be living. And then once I met Sam, she made me realise, in my own time, that that's not the right way of looking at things," 34-year-old Woodgate tells 9Honey Celebrity.

"She's just shown me so much about her job and explains what happens in the world, and here I am stressing about things that I don't need to when there's other people out there suffering a thousand times worse," he says. "It really amazes me where her heart is and how she's so set to make a difference, and I'm wanting to support her with it."

Jarrod Woodgate and Sam Royce are using their platform to highlight issues that matter. (Instagram)

Woodgate and Royce, who was a contestant on The Bachelor last year, have now rallied behind the End It Movement, a coalition of leading worldwide organisations that have united to put an end to slavery. The couple hope to shine a light on human trafficking and modern slavery, not just globally but also on a local scale.

"There are more people trapped in slavery today than ever before in human history. Most of the world knows nothing about this, and I didn't even know it," admits Woodgate. "The End It Movement recognises you can't take a stand against something you don't know exists. Education is power, and today we have the ability to put an end to slavery and human trafficking in our lifetime.

"While slavery is a global issue, every region and country faces unique challenges depending on if they are a source, a transit or destination country for human trafficking or slavery victims," he explains. "Australia is primarily a destination country for victims to be trafficked and be exploited, so the challenges to stop this slavery are complex."

The couple draw red crosses on their palms to support the global #EndItMovement. (Instagram)

According to recent figures, there are 40.3 million people affected by human trafficking and slavery around the world, with 71 per cent of those being women and girls, and one in four are children. Anti-Slavery Australia also estimates that more than 1900 people in the country are victims of modern slavery, which could be anything from servitude, forced labour or forced marriage. And sadly, only one in five victims are detected.

"There are 1900 victims in Australia — and that could only be what we know of," he says. "I've only just recently found out that there are three cases at the moment that are going to court that have happened within a 30-kilometre radius of my home [in Melbourne]. These are people with power who shouldn't have power, and they're taking advantage of that."

Together, they also support the Change the Date movement surrounding Australia Day. (Instagram)

And while the road to ending slavery is long and hard, Woodgate says individuals can start to make some leeway by making informed choices daily.

"I've learnt that as consumers we all have the ability to make changes in our everyday life that can make a difference," he advises. "Whether it's buying clothes from a company that doesn't have child labour and exploitation in their supply chains, or swapping to a fair-trade chocolate that ensures cocoa is ethically-sourced and slavery-free. Or you can choose a makeup brand that doesn't use mica [a naturally occurring mineral dust] that was mined by children in forced labour.

"We have the power to influence change by lobbying unethical brands to comply with the modern slavery bill and ensure their products are slavery-free."

Last year, the couple raised funds and awareness for the homeless by participating in Mission Australia's Sleepout. (Instagram)

Soon Woodgate and Royce will have another familiar face joining their quest to end slavery. The Bachelor 2018 contestant Alisha Aitken-Radburn is also keen to raise more awareness. Aitken-Radburn comes from a political background, having worked as a political adviser for former Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, and she's keen to lend her voice.

"Alisha and I are very invested in this sort of stuff and Sam just gave us an eye opener to what was going on," Woodgate reveals. "I think Alicia is also doing a post for the End It Movement. We both work well together, we always chat and communicate between the group, so hopefully down the track there's something in the pipeline where we're going to make this bigger and get more awareness out there as a group."

There's no doubt that Woodgate credits Royce for changing his outlook on life. Before they started dating late last year, he was linked to another former Bachelor contestant, Keira Maguire, who he met on the Bachelor in Paradise in 2018 and dated on and off until their split in August 2019.

"I don't know if Sam would be happy with me saying this, but she thought I was a bit of a snob to start with, which, to be honest, I was because I was in a limelight relationship and it kind of makes you think that this is your life but it wasn't," Woodgate explains to 9Honey Celebrity.

"I slowly got back down to earth and Sam's helped ground me. Yes, when I got straight out of The Bachelorette, I wanted to go straight into charity work for Camp Quality because I'm an ambassador, but to be able to do it with someone you love is so much better and stronger."

Woodgate is a proud Camp Quality ambassador, a charity he has supported for years. (Instagram)

Now the vineyard owner is blissfully isolating with Royce in her hometown of Darwin, with Woodgate flying in from Melbourne before the Northern Territory closed its borders five weeks ago.

"I literally got here three days before they shut their borders. I was actually meant to be here for three or four days, just to have a holiday with Sam to go to Katherine, NT, before everything shut down," explained Woodgate, who is the vineyard manager at his family-owned winery Toms Cap in Gippsland, Victoria.

"But our vineyard got shut down so my parents said, 'It's probably better for you to stay with Sam and you won't be a grumpy bum,' because it's better for me to be happy and that's where their head's at."

"I've been here for five weeks now," he adds. "So having this time, living in the same house, it's really nice. It's going to be really hard to leave her. She is my forever and I see more of a future now than ever with this one. We're both very happy."

One thing that really attracts Woodgate to Royce is her ability to put others before herself. Even with the current coronavirus pandemic, Royce is working on the frontline and helping to enforce strict quarantine rules in the Northern Territory.

"I'm very proud. She goes to work, she puts on her mask, puts on the gloves and then she has to turn people away at the airport and put them in forced quarantine. She's doing it for their safety and our safety," Woodgate gushes of his federal agent girlfriend.

"There's things I don't know about and things I can't talk about, but she sometimes goes to do raids, she's got to kit up and go to houses, that would be scary stuff. She's very switched on and she's very passionate."